Why Moneyball isn't going to be a movie

Yeah, I wouldn't make the movie that Soderbergh submitted, either. But the first version sounded kinda good (I'd wondered how the book could be turned into a movie, and it sounds like they figured out a way).

4 months ago can of corn 41 comments 0 recs |

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I was hotly anticipating the sequel, too. :(

Moneyball Z.

My Dave Righetti is better than your Dave Righetti.

by howtheyscored on Jul 2, 2009 12:41 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

NERD!!!!!!!!!

[/dodgeballz]

"he walked 18; new league record! Struck out 18, another new league record! He also hit the sportswriter, the PA announcer, the bull mascot twice..."

by i did my job on Jul 2, 2009 12:45 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

The scene where Billy Beane fuses with DePodesta was all kinds of awkward.

Judgment Day is coming
comics | art | Nattowear

by Natto on Jul 2, 2009 10:27 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Eric Chavez's On-Base Percentage ...

It’s over THREE-FIFTYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!

My Dave Righetti is better than your Dave Righetti.

by howtheyscored on Jul 2, 2009 10:38 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

/rechecks reading

BUT BUT THAT’S IMPOSSIBLE!!!!

"Why couldn't McCovey have hit the ball just three feet higher?" / Adopted brother of the AnVil

by SoFa King Mike on Jul 2, 2009 10:49 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

WHAT THREE FIFTY!?

Merkin Valdez? Manuel Mateo? A rose by any other name...

by rotorueter on Jul 2, 2009 11:06 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

tree fitty

"Why couldn't McCovey have hit the ball just three feet higher?" / Adopted brother of the AnVil

by SoFa King Mike on Jul 2, 2009 11:40 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Damn Loch Ness Monster

Giant Dirtbags: John Bowker, Steve Hammond. MIA List: Todd Jennings, Brian Anderson
Wronghanded Affeldt pitches right

by Giant among Angels on Jul 3, 2009 8:44 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I saw this earlier. My take was just like yours. I’m all for authentic portrayals of MLB, but an adaptation of Moneyball, which substantially takes place in the front office, seems like a strange time to be real obsessed about it. If you’re on the project team making this into a movie, I’d think you would HAVE to creatively interpret the book to produce a compelling screenplay. Because obviously Lewis wasn’t imagining it as a film when he wrote it. You can go too far with creative license, but that doesn’t mean you go for full throttle authenticity.

What little snippets we caught of Zaillian’s screenplay here didn’t exactly wow me, but, anyway, I would have liked to have seen this go forward. I’m not all that crazy about Pitt as Billy Beane though.

by non sequitur on Jul 2, 2009 3:08 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Is it safe yet to be over Billy Beane in general?

"Don't trust anyone under the age of 30" - Brian Sabean

by Smotheredinhugs on Jul 2, 2009 6:37 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Everyone loves Billy Beane…even the LADIES!

Minor White > Ansel Adams

by say hey nation on Jul 2, 2009 6:57 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Now you've done it

Billy’s minions are on their way to your residence as we speak.

by Lars The Wanderer on Jul 2, 2009 8:07 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yahoo’s baseball power rankings has this description for the Giants “Production shut down on "Moneyball," Giants pitch "In the Shadow of Moneyball: How We Went to One More World Series than Beane Did During that Time."”

by SFGuy on Jul 2, 2009 5:44 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

i prefer “moneyballs” featuring billy bean.

by shanghaijim on Jul 2, 2009 9:36 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

SECONDED!

And carried!

Still backing Notgardo, wheresoever he may wander. (Don't forget to wriiiite!)

by tk on Jul 2, 2009 10:12 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Steven Soderberg is a wonderfully inventive filmmaker – I would have liked to see the film just to see how he approached the material. Fast Food Nation was made into a film, why not Moneyball?

That said, there are very few filmmakers that I would have liked to see make Moneyball into a film. Soderbergh would have made an interesting film, but I fear most filmmakers would make a standard baseball movie. Therein lies the problem, Moneyball isn’t really about baseball. It is about approaching commonly held beliefs in an objective, scientific fashion. It is about looking for value where others who are too entrenched in a traditional way of thinking don’t see it. This is a much harder movie to make, and I think 99% of filmmakers would structure the movie solely around the 2002 baseball season.

by Uribe nee Gonzalez on Jul 2, 2009 9:48 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

I think the documentary type style would have been rather dry, and having some folks play themselves and “re-enact” certain events seems like it could have been bad. Especially since everybody is now significantly older – it would lose quite a bit of the authenticity that Soderbergh seems to have wanted.

It's my blarg! Quick Pitch

by can of corn on Jul 2, 2009 10:16 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Ok, good points. But, to me, interesting is always a better route than middling. If Soderbergh wants to use some of the experimental techniques he used in his previous films, or incorporate new ones, it would be immensely more watchable (for me) than seeing Jay Roach (speculated in the LA Times) make a comedy out of it. “He doesn’t look good in jeans!” /dies laughing.

by Uribe nee Gonzalez on Jul 2, 2009 11:07 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Also, just recently Gus Van Sant used real people playing themselves years later to good effect. Granted most of these people are less well know (unfortunately) than over-the-hill baseball players. Milk also used a pseudo-documentary style quite well which really brought me into the feeling of the time.

If Soderbergh wants to make a film as close to the book as possible, I don’t see why he shouldn’t. There aren’t going to be people lining up to see this movie and then complaining that it wasn’t entertaining enough. It is a fringe film. It doesn’t even hit one of the four sectors, it doesn’t play overseas, etc. I’m surprised any studio wanted to make this into a film in the first place. He should buy the rights, make it for $2 million, and do it however he pleases.

by Uribe nee Gonzalez on Jul 2, 2009 11:15 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

It is about approaching commonly held beliefs in an objective, scientific fashion.

And still failing.

by shanghaijim on Jul 2, 2009 10:14 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Behold, an example.

by shanghaijim on Jul 2, 2009 10:15 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Tarantino should make this, it definitely would be goofy that way.

I really wanted to see Beane go nuts when Fuson chose Jeremy Bonderman.

by Hobbes2d on Jul 2, 2009 11:00 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

“I want you to go into the computer and pick out my player.”

“Which one is your player Mr. Beane?”

“He’s the one that says Bad Mutherfucker next to him.”

by Uribe nee Gonzalez on Jul 2, 2009 11:03 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Nick Swisher?

That’s him, that’s my bad motherfucker!

by Hobbes2d on Jul 2, 2009 11:16 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

YES thats was my favorite part of the book

Congrats to my soul mate and birth brother Zach Wheeler on being drafted into greatness. Should I just buy my Wheeler jersey now, or wait till my next birthday?

by TexasRanger on Jul 2, 2009 1:55 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Or Michael Bay

The chair Beane throws at the wall will shatter into a million pieces in super slow-mo.

Adoptive parent of Noah Lowry.

:-(

by Cookyman on Jul 2, 2009 2:10 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

We’ve previously discussed Moneyball by Michael Bay. We’ve moved onto adding Saiyans now.

My Dave Righetti is better than your Dave Righetti.

by howtheyscored on Jul 2, 2009 2:55 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Or the chair is a bomb and it blows up the entire room while Beane jumps away from the blast in the last second.

by Hobbes2d on Jul 2, 2009 4:03 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Maybe Dr. Stat can make a cameo appearance

Judgment Day is coming
comics | art | Nattowear

by Natto on Jul 2, 2009 11:42 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

“We love this movie, we always have and we still want to make it. It’s a completely innovative way to tell a baseball story. It’s about wanting to believe in magic, which is what baseball is all about.”

really, that is what baseball is all about?

by FluLikeSymptoms on Jul 2, 2009 1:26 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Similarly, I was pretty surprised when I found out that Harry Potter is about baseball.

My Dave Righetti is better than your Dave Righetti.

by howtheyscored on Jul 2, 2009 1:34 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

SOMEONE CALL SABES TELL HIM WE FOUND A NEW PROSPECT GOLD MIND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Minor White > Ansel Adams

by say hey nation on Jul 2, 2009 1:38 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Half-blood Prince = Velez

Judgment Day is coming
comics | art | Nattowear

by Natto on Jul 2, 2009 1:55 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

An odd statement by Pascal. Isn’t the book commonly interpreted as being disenchanting?

by non sequitur on Jul 2, 2009 2:24 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

yeah, it’s pretty obvious she hasn’t read the book. It’s all about applying logic and objective analysis (in other words, the complete opposite of magic) to baseball.

by FluLikeSymptoms on Jul 2, 2009 3:17 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Proof why Beane clenches up whenever this book is mentioned.

by Hobbes2d on Jul 2, 2009 4:04 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Actually, it just occurred to me that one way to interpret the book is as a little engine that could story — the small market team triumphing over the Yankees, Red Sox, etc. despite limited resources. That’s “magical”, I suppose.

by non sequitur on Jul 2, 2009 4:13 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs